Diamonds are a despot’s best friend – Prison breaks, whispers and hints, and the end of Ramadan lead to expanded terrorism fears – Remember that triple meltdown in Japan two years ago?  Yeah, it never got better and it keeps getting worse – And America appears ready to watch a sports hero do the walk of shame.

Critics suspected that Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe used his immense wealth from conflict diamonds to influence last week’s election.  But the level of expense is staggering.  The London Sunday Times newspaper quotes “classified documents” saying that Mugabe spent A$850 Million to throw the election his way.  The alleged international vote fraud scam reached from Zimbabwe to China and to Israel, with firms hired to create non-existent “shadow voters” whose ballots outnumber the actual population of the rural areas where they supposedly live; Urban voters were unregistered and otherwise disenfranchised.  The opposition is calling for passive resistance to protest the unlikely reelection of 89-year old Mugabe.

Interpol has put out a global security alert because of al Qaeda’s involvement in a series of prison breaks, in Iraq, Libya, and Pakistan.  In each, the modus operandi was the same; militants attacked the prisons with rockets and automatic weapons, allowing more than 1,500 inmates to get out of jail.  Interpol's alert comes after the US state department issued a global travel alert because of fears of an unspecified al Qaeda attack.  Most US Embassies in the Muslim world are closed today.

Radioactive groundwater at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant has risen to levels above a barrier being built to contain it.  The Asahi Shimbum newspaper is estimating that the contaminated water could swell to the ground surface within three weeks.  Last month, the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) was forced to admit that radioactive water was leaking into the Pacific Ocean. Tepco would need to pump out about 100 metric tons of water each day to prevent leakage into the ocean but that it was not clear where the water would be stored.

The fall of an American Baseball star now seems unstoppable:  The League on Monday will reportedly suspend Alex Rodriguez for the rest of this season and all of next season for using banned performance-enhancing drugs.  The 38-year old “A-Rod” (or “A-Roid”, depending on which substance was abused) stands to lose more than A$34 Million, not to mention the endorsement deals which have dried up.

Human Rights Watch is calling on Jamaica to conduct a “thorough, impartial and effective investigation” into the gruesome murder of a 17-year-old trans boy.  Dwayne Jones was dressed in women’s clothing and dancing at a party when his secret was discovered, and partygoers turned into a mob.  Jones was stabbed numerous times and shot once.  Jamaica has terrible problem with homophobia; the government has a poor record of investigating violence against LGBT people.  And the island’s popular music was rife with references to such violence, until pressure from the international “Stop Murder Music” campaign curbed that.

Honduran President Porfirio Lobo put the military in charge of the country's main prison after a clash left at least three gang members dead and 12 people injured, including three guards.  But it also follows a report from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights that says the government had effectively given up on rehabilitating criminals and allowed the gangs to control the prisons.  There are more than 12,000 people in Honduran prisons designed to hold a total of 8,000 inmates.

In Brazil, 25 police have each been sentenced to 624-years in prison for their roles in the 1992 massacre in Sao Paulo’s Carandiru jail.   111 prisoners were killed when cops were sent in to suppress a prison riot and went way too far.  Nine of the officers were still on active duty, but all will lose their jobs.  The cops do have a chance of waling free again: Under Brazilian law there are no life sentences, and no convicted person can serve longer than 30 years in prison.

A man lost at least one leg after the controlled demolition of a disused power plant in Bakersfield, California went awry.  Crowds had gathered to watch the implosion, which was supposed to bring the steel buildings in a heap of rubble and a cloud of dust.  But metal shrapnel blasted out into a supposedly-safe area around 300 meters away.  Investigators are now looking into the demolition company as well as who determined the distance of the safety perimeter.